Eastern Front Theatre presents Catherine Banks’ new play Miss n Me at the Neptune Theatre Scotiabank Studio from now until March 24th, 2019 and it is a wild, thrilling, empowering, and hilariously strange ride.
We are introduced to Donna (Samantha Wilson), who has taken her husband’s truck on the eve of her 50th Birthday (and 25th Wedding Anniversary) to travel from Bridgewater to New York City on a quest to meet Missy Elliott. Along the way she meets a wide array of interesting hitchhiking characters, and we learn about why Donna has embarked on this journey, and see her undergo a powerful and beautiful transformation from someone who has allowed the world to happen to her, to someone who won’t let anyone fuck with her anymore.
The story is a familiar one, but the way Banks chooses to tell this one brims with creativity and metaphor, and is infused with equal parts silliness and wisdom. As Laura Vingoe-Cram eloquently expresses in her Message from the Director in the programme the themes in this play speak broadly to the way many women have been conditioned to be unassuming, unquestioning, the peacemakers, the people pleasers, and asks what happens to all those pent up feelings of rage, of pain, and to all those unasked questions? For Donna, her inspiration lies in Missy Elliott, but the real answers come from a place much closer to home.
Four actors bring this story to captivating and magical life. Nathan Simmons plays Justin, Donna’s teenaged son who is a skateboard meditationist. Simmons and Wilson create a lovely dynamic between mother and son where both are protective of the other, but neither is sure exactly how to connect in a meaningful way. Andrew Chandler plays a myriad of different roles, including an Eggo Man, Adonis, and a “Fortune Terrorist,” and he really shows off his comedic chops. He throws himself into every role with gusto to great effect. Sharleen Kalayil also plays an array of very different characters, from a sassy mermaid, to a sweet mother clown, to a soul-crushing wedding anniversary planner (among others), and she brings beautiful nuance, as well as much silliness, to all seven of them. Her Mother Clown character is especially poignant. Samantha Wilson is perfect as Donna, she navigates her journey from profound insecurity toward self-assuredness with such vulnerability, playfulness, humour, and heart. This role is a beautiful showcase of Wilson’s unique talents as a actor. If you missed her while she was at Mount Allison over the last two years, this is a very triumphant return to the Haligonian stage for her.
Catherine Banks throws a lot at director Laura Vingoe-Cram, she needs to figure out the rules for a world in which people can use their car engine to make Kraft Dinner, where props appear and disappear at random, and that blends the magical, fanciful, and surreal with enough stark reality that we always understand what exactly it is that Donna is trying to leave behind. Vingoe-Cram does a great job at creating this world, and taking us from Bridgewater, along the I-90, down into a mineshaft, and everywhere in between, in a way that makes everything feel clear, even when the play leaves a lot of room for us to fill in our own blanks. Helping with the magic are Aaron Collier’s sound design, Emlyn Murray’s costume design, the video design by Nick Bottomley and Anna Shepard, the captivating choreography by Tracy Fanous and the music composed by Keke Beatz (Marqeis Williams). Patricia Vinluan’s set helps to keep all the action really open, while still rooting us in the logistics of driving in a car.
Most of us who have done Improv, either as kids or adults, are likely familiar with the Hitchhiker Game- Miss n Me feels very much like if that game were to be expanded into a fully realized play, and all the hitchhiking characters were metaphors, and the stakes for the driver were extremely high, but everything still existed in that beautiful realm of improv where anything and everything is possible: including segways. This play is unique, creative, and very funny, and it has a timely and socially relevant message expressed through the, perhaps unexpected, lens of Missy Elliott.
Eastern Front Theatre’s Miss n Me plays at Neptune Theatre’s Scotiabank Studio Theatre (1593 Argyle Street, Halifax) from March 14th to March 24, 2019. Shows run Tuesday to Sunday at 7:30pm with 2:00pm matinees on Saturday and Sunday. For tickets please call 902.429.7070, visit the Neptune Theatre Box Office at 1593 Argyle Street or Go Online HERE.
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